Browsing through my local library, I was greatly surprised to see the latest book in the starcraft universe, "Heaven's Devils" by William C. Dietz, on the 'new book' shelf.
Unable to argue against "free" and being a moderate starcraft fan, I borrowed the book and was mildly excited by the book's promise to learn the origins of "young upstart Jim Raynor and streetwise soldier Tychus Findley".
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For those completely new to the starcraft universe, this book is very accessible. No zerg or protoss aliens are present to stir things up or present any 'non-human perspective' or outside 'alien threat'. This book is all about humans and the unfortunate human condition that is war and (mainly) 1 man's experience of this war.
At first, the war is merely a 'prop in the background'. This part can be slow to some who want to see Raynor the "legendary man" and not Raynor the young, pragmatic, principled youth.
Stick with it!!!!
Raynor's early origin story isn't over the top dramatic or brow-beating you into seeing who Raynor is. It is simple, concise and demonstrates Raynor's two defining qualities that he carries with him from a young boy to starcraft2: Pragmatic and principled. There is never a inconsistency or "sharp divide" in character between Young Raynor, recruit Raynor, "Heaven's devils" Raynor at the end of the book or even Raynor in the Starcraft game.
Two other character's have comparably large origin stories. Tychus Findlay and Ryk Kydd. Each
origin story is a well-told stand-alone story but they also introduce critical aspects of the starcraft universe from the "darker" side. Ryk Kydd is drugged, kidnapped and sold into military service with a new amusing phonetic identity (Recruit kid). Ryk is one of the lucky ones. Tychus Findlay is the extremely pragmatic, fairly unprincipled survivor who survives war, prison, incompetent leaders, enemies, traitors, friends and whatever else the universe might throw at him.
The origin stories all combine after about 1/4 to 1/3 of the book and transition into what could be considered the "Heaven's devils" origin story. This contains the meat of the action and fans of the games will enjoy all the chaotic action with goliath mechs, tanks, vulture bikes, and the 'new' suits that will be marines and firebats. These parts are written well and the action is clear to follow for non-starcraft readers but it might be hard to imagine how certain scenes play out since there are moments that lack description but rely on the reader to supplement the scene. If you know how everything is 'supposed' to look like, this works out well but I do think some more description was necessary regarding Firebat (suit with flamethrower) and 'jump jets'.
By the end, fans will see how Raynor got trained into such a heroic bad-ass while also seeing how he was placed as a "sheriff/mayor" of some outer rim back-water planet and why he is the man he is.
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The only disappointing note to fans of starcraft may be that this book doesn't have any 'ground-breaking' new lore other than the origin story. Compared to the other books in the Starcraft Universe which reveal Xel Naga, alien lore, Mengsk's son, etc. the reveal of ONLY Raynor's origin can be somewhat disappointing if you are expecting more. This does make the book really accessible to non-starcraft readers since there isn't any 'hidden story' to throw you off but fans will have to tide themselves over with the timeline printed in the back of the book.
Corvuus
Unable to argue against "free" and being a moderate starcraft fan, I borrowed the book and was mildly excited by the book's promise to learn the origins of "young upstart Jim Raynor and streetwise soldier Tychus Findley".
------------
For those completely new to the starcraft universe, this book is very accessible. No zerg or protoss aliens are present to stir things up or present any 'non-human perspective' or outside 'alien threat'. This book is all about humans and the unfortunate human condition that is war and (mainly) 1 man's experience of this war.
At first, the war is merely a 'prop in the background'. This part can be slow to some who want to see Raynor the "legendary man" and not Raynor the young, pragmatic, principled youth.
Stick with it!!!!
Raynor's early origin story isn't over the top dramatic or brow-beating you into seeing who Raynor is. It is simple, concise and demonstrates Raynor's two defining qualities that he carries with him from a young boy to starcraft2: Pragmatic and principled. There is never a inconsistency or "sharp divide" in character between Young Raynor, recruit Raynor, "Heaven's devils" Raynor at the end of the book or even Raynor in the Starcraft game.
Two other character's have comparably large origin stories. Tychus Findlay and Ryk Kydd. Each
origin story is a well-told stand-alone story but they also introduce critical aspects of the starcraft universe from the "darker" side. Ryk Kydd is drugged, kidnapped and sold into military service with a new amusing phonetic identity (Recruit kid). Ryk is one of the lucky ones. Tychus Findlay is the extremely pragmatic, fairly unprincipled survivor who survives war, prison, incompetent leaders, enemies, traitors, friends and whatever else the universe might throw at him.
The origin stories all combine after about 1/4 to 1/3 of the book and transition into what could be considered the "Heaven's devils" origin story. This contains the meat of the action and fans of the games will enjoy all the chaotic action with goliath mechs, tanks, vulture bikes, and the 'new' suits that will be marines and firebats. These parts are written well and the action is clear to follow for non-starcraft readers but it might be hard to imagine how certain scenes play out since there are moments that lack description but rely on the reader to supplement the scene. If you know how everything is 'supposed' to look like, this works out well but I do think some more description was necessary regarding Firebat (suit with flamethrower) and 'jump jets'.
By the end, fans will see how Raynor got trained into such a heroic bad-ass while also seeing how he was placed as a "sheriff/mayor" of some outer rim back-water planet and why he is the man he is.
--------------------------------------------------------
The only disappointing note to fans of starcraft may be that this book doesn't have any 'ground-breaking' new lore other than the origin story. Compared to the other books in the Starcraft Universe which reveal Xel Naga, alien lore, Mengsk's son, etc. the reveal of ONLY Raynor's origin can be somewhat disappointing if you are expecting more. This does make the book really accessible to non-starcraft readers since there isn't any 'hidden story' to throw you off but fans will have to tide themselves over with the timeline printed in the back of the book.
Corvuus